I could disable wpautop in a plugin, and after that function add the above code.
I saw a fellow once whose source was simply gorgeous. Each paragraph was indented, no doubt, but each line broke after a certain number of characters, and the wrapped lines were indented, plus three spaces:
...
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
Etiam adipiscing, tellus sed consequat euismod, felis turpis
tristique magna, vel placerat sem arcu eget lorem. Aliquam
aliquet, sapien a tincidunt vulputate, mauris ligula sagittis
tortor, sed egestas ante est vitae velit. Etiam pharetra.
Pellentesque mattis, tortor sed congue consequat, neque enim
ornare tellus, quis dapibus nisl nisi nec risus. Ut eget
erat. Proin lacinia nunc at enim. Vivamus adipiscing
fringilla metus. Mauris hendrerit. In rhoncus metus sed
velit. Praesent diam diam, varius eu, egestas pharetra,
euismod id, sem.</p>
<p>Curabitur dapibus. Mauris tincidunt mollis lacus. Ut ac
justo. Phasellus faucibus diam non dui. Vivamus ut est. Nam
et risus sit amet metus aliquam pharetra. Vivamus
sollicitudin mauris at nisl. Sed tincidunt sollicitudin est.
Proin pharetra. Donec euismod gravida est. Maecenas a sem.
Aliquam erat volutpat. Praesent nibh. Aenean nisl tortor,
porttitor sed, malesuada sit amet, dictum eget, lectus. Donec
laoreet ante quis metus.</p>
That is what I really would like to get to.
Edit: Bah! Even here, with code marked up as such, it's an un-attainable goal!
Edit 2: It doesn't like spaces after the code mark.